The centrifuge container and the set according to the present invention are configured for use in a centrifuge, particularly a laboratory centrifuge. Laboratory centrifuges are used for various applications in the biochemical, chemical, biological and medical fields, such as, for example, the separation of mixtures. To that end, a sample vessel containing the mixture to be separated is placed in a centrifuge container. In some cases, the sample vessel is accommodated in an adapter in advance. The centrifuge container is fixed to a rotor, which is in turn mounted on a drive head of a drive shaft of a centrifuge drive. The rotor of the centrifuge is rotated about a rotation axis by means of the drive, during which process the centrifugal forces acting on the samples cause the separation of the mixture. Laboratory centrifuges are different from industrially used centrifuges, for example, in that they often times operate with small sample volumes, and the samples may be very sensitive and valuable, requiring very precise devices which separate the samples most accurately without having a negative impact on the sample quality.
The present invention primarily relates to laboratory centrifuges separating sample volumes up to 50 ml maximum, for example, up to 15 ml, at a capacity of up to 16 samples, in most cases up to 8 samples, at a time per run, and a centrifugal acceleration of 6,000 g maximum, for example, up to 4,000 times the gravitational acceleration (g).
Laboratory centrifuges of the above type may be operated either with centrifuge containers supported in a suspended manner together with the sample vessels in the rotor such that they swing out into a horizontal position (so-called “swinging containers”) during the centrifuge run due to the centrifugal force, and with centrifuge containers arranged in the rotor at a fixed angle relative to the rotation axis, where said angle will not change during the centrifuge run (so-called “fixed angle containers”). Both types of centrifuge containers can, for example, be used in a hybrid rotor according to Patent Application No. DE 10 2015 005 195.4 of the same Applicant, to which reference is made with respect to the general structure of the centrifuge containers and of the hybrid rotor. The present invention particularly relates to centrifuge containers and sets in which the centrifuge container is only partially received in the rotor and partially protrudes outward beyond the rotor.
Due to the rotation of the centrifuge rotor, the centrifuge containers are heavily accelerated and maintained at high speed during operation of the centrifuge. In generic laboratory centrifuges, multiple problems occur during the centrifuge run due to the flow resistance of the centrifuge containers and the rotor, respectively, due to their air friction. On the one hand, the centrifuge requires a great driving power in order to overcome the flow resistance. In order to be able to provide said driving power, the centrifuge motor must be dimensioned sufficiently large, with the air friction leading to an increased energy expenditure. This results in an overall increase of the production and operation costs for the centrifuge motor. Furthermore, the centrifuge containers may heat up due to the air friction during the centrifuge run, which leads to a potential damage to the samples and therefore has to be prevented by elaborate cooling measures. Moreover, there is an increased generation of noise during the run of the laboratory centrifuge, which is perceived as disturbing by the operators. Moreover, the shape of the centrifuge containers is not freely selectable in order to decrease the flow resistance during the centrifuge run, since simple operation and an advantageous exploitation of the space available in the laboratory centrifuge are to be taken into account. For example, the centrifuge containers are supposed to be mountable on and removable from the centrifuge rotor in a most simple manner, while bulky shapes of the centrifuge containers limit the maximum number of containers that can be centrifuged per centrifuge run.